Category: Motor Racing

Max Verstappen took his 25th career pole position in Formula 1 in a tricky wet qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Although a drying line had emerged by the start of Q2, offering drivers to take a chance on running with soft tyres, the conditions had worsened by the start of the final part of qualifying and the rain picked up in intensity.

Using the intermediate rubber, Verstappen recorded a lap time of one minute, 27.059 seconds with his first lap of the session, as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso got to within 0.25 seconds of the championship leader’s opener in their respective opening gambits.

But although rain continued to fall, Verstappen found enough tyre temperature to produce a one minute, 25.858 seconds, although Alonso had eclipsed the defending champion’s second sector in his follow-up effort.

But the session was red-flagged, as Oscar Piastri took too much throttle on the exit of Turn 7 and backed his car into the wall, breaking the right-rear corner of his McLaren.

Nico Hulkenberg managed to put in a time good enough for second moments before the red flag emerged, but Alonso was unable to complete his lap and had to retreat to the pits.

The session resumed with seven minutes left, but the continued rainfall dampened any chances that the drivers could improve in the final half of the session.

Alonso claimed the third-fastest time having been denied another shot to beat Verstappen, and starts on the second row alongside Lewis Hamilton.

George Russell and Esteban Ocon completed the third row, ahead of Lando Norris in seventh.

Carlos Sainz could only manage eighth, but will likely have to visit the race stewards having impeded Pierre Gasly in Q1 in a session where the Ferrari seemed to be of constant irritation to other drivers.

Piastri’s time prior to his crash was good enough for ninth, as Alex Albon’s Q3 effort was chalked off due to a track limits violation.

Albon had been the first to risk the soft tyres at the start of Q2 as a drying line began to appear, and it was a gamble that paid off once the Anglo-Thai driver collected enough tyre temperature.

The Williams driver fired his way to the top of the timing board and, although then eclipsed by Alonso on the intermediate compound, Albon posted a one minute, 18.725 seconds to book his place into Q3.

This prompted everyone to try slicks, although Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez discarded their sets of softs without having set a competitive time on them.

The Red Bull driver bolted on intermediates again as rain returned to the circuit, but was left in the drop zone and was one of the two high-profile eliminations from the session.

Leclerc was one position ahead, having been dumped into the drop zone as Hulkenberg broke into the top ten on his own soft-tyre lap.

Home hero Lance Stroll recovered from a spectacular spin on the exit of Turn 5 and narrowly missed the wall, but could only set a time good enough for P13 – beating Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas.

Q1 was red flagged after just three minutes as Zhou Guanyu lost drive and had to park up on the exit of Turn 7, although the Alfa Romeo driver was able to perform a reset to get the car back to the garage.

The drying nature of the circuit in Q1 gave the drivers to opportunity to set faster lap times, and the session resembled musical chairs as the midfielders battled against the drop zone.

But both Yuki Tsunoda and Gasly encountered a slow moving Sainz at the chicane, and neither made it through into Q2 – Gasly venting his fury over the radio to suggest that the Ferrari driver “should be banned”.

Tsunoda missed out on the cut having been 0.016 seconds shy of Hulkenberg in P15, who felt the AlphaTauri driver had impeded him during the session.

Nyck de Vries could not improve upon P18 on his final lap, as Logan Sargeant joined Zhou on the final row of the grid as the Alfa Romeo driver was able to return to the circuit – despite an issue earlier.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in scoring pole position and yet the highlight of the Canadian Grand Prix is Nico Hulkenberg scoring a solid P2 for Haas.

Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:25.858
2 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:27.102
3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:27.286
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.627
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:27.893
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:27.945
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:28.046
8 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1:29.294
9 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:31.349
10 Alexander Albon Williams No time
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.615
12 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 1:20.959
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:21.484
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:21.678
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:21.821
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:22.746
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:22.886
18 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:23.137
19 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:23.337
20 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:23.342

World champion Max Verstappen dominated Formula 1’s 2023 Spanish Grand Prix to win in front of the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

At the start, polesitter Verstappen moved right after leaving the line to cut off the momentum of fellow front-row starter Carlos Sainz, but the Ferrari – on soft tyres versus the mediums on the Red Bull – got a slipstream and attacked on the outside line at Turn 1.

Verstappen was therefore forced to run very deep as he defended hard from the inside line but kept enough of his car on the track to stay within the rules in what was the only moment he was under serious pressure all day.

Sainz had to check up coming through Turn 2, which slowed Hamilton behind, the Mercedes driver having dived past Lando Norris at Turn 1.

Hamilton slowing appeared to catch Norris off guard and they made contact, which broke the McLaren’s front wing and meant he needed to pit for repairs at the end of lap one, his race ruined and eventually coming home P17 in an event where no cars failed to finish.

Verstappen disappeared up front, escaping Sainz’s DRS threat immediately, while Lance Stroll demoted Hamilton to fourth at Turn 5 on the opening lap.

But it soon became clear that Mercedes had the best non-Red Bull pace and he hunted down and repassed the Aston on lap eight with a move on the outside line into Turn 1.

Hamilton then reached Sainz’s rear by lap 15, by which point Verstappen was seven seconds clear in the lead, and Ferrari stopped at this point to switch softs for mediums.

Mercedes, though, left Hamilton running for nine further laps before he came in to take the mediums too and on lap 28 the seven-time champion used his fresher rubber to claim Sainz’s second place with an easy DRS-assisted move on the run down the main straight.

Perez had briefly run second on his rise from a shock Q2 exit as others pitted ahead, the Red Bull driver putting in a series of passes at Turn 1 after not making any progress at the start.

Like Verstappen, he was started on the mediums and the Red Bull pair were serviced with a lap of each other – on lap 26 and 27 once all their rivals on the soft tyres had already come in.

The middle phase of the race became about Russell catching Sainz has Hamilton shot clear of the Ferrari and Perez’s continuing progress through the field.

Russell had survived an investigation into his driving at the opening corners, as he went through the Turn 2 escape road having been briefly going three-wide in the pack after launching past Perez from his P12 grid spot.

The race stewards looked to see if Russell had gained an advantage by leaving the track but determined he had not and so he was free to charge on his starting softs, the red-walled rubber holding up much better than expected in cooler, overcast conditions.

Russell made a series of further passes after his lap 25 stop, during which he feared rain was falling at Turn 5 but later diagnosed the issue as sweat making its way onto his visor in the humid conditions.

By lap 34 Russell was only 1.1 seconds behind Sainz’s third position and with Perez gunning for both from the pack behind, such was his pace.

The next time by, Russell made a neat late Turn 1 dive on Sainz work and he ran clear as Red Bull then worked out to best get Perez close to the podium.

Ferrari stopped Sainz for hards on lap 41, after which Mercedes opted to bring Russell in too and give him softs for a final stint charge, in the anticipation that Red Bull would leave Perez out on a one-stopper.

Russell was roaring back to Perez when he was instead pitted for a set of softs having taken hards for his second stint, mirroring Verstappen’s strategy up front, the leader’s advantage by the time his team-mate stopped for a second time up to 16.2 seconds.

Verstappen was brought in for a final time on lap 52 and used these to seal the fastest lap bonus point in addition to his final winning margin of 24.0 seconds, with his only issue in the closing laps being repeated warnings for abusing track limits and was eventually given a black-and-white flag final warning.

Perez used his softs to successfully close in a move ahead of Sainz with an easy move into Turn 1’s inside the lap after his Verstappen’s final stop and the suddenly reversed chase of Russell was established.

But this did not come off as Russell lifted his enough so that the 11 seconds lead he had had over Perez when he rejoined from his final stop was only down to 3.4 seconds at the flag, with Hamilton cruising home 8.2 seconds behind Hamilton.

Sainz finished fifth ahead of Stroll and Fernando Alonso in the second Aston Martin, the Spaniard getting close to his team-mate by the flag but assuring Aston he would not pass and he completed the final lap waving to his home crowd.

Esteban Ocon took eighth, with Yuki Tsunoda dropped from finishing ninth on the road to P12 in the final results thanks to a five-second penalty time addition for forcing Zhou Guanyu off at Turn 1 during their late battle.

Zhou, therefore, rose to ninth post-flag, with Pierre Gasly recovering from a slow second stop to take P10 and stave off the attentions of Charles Leclerc, who could not rise from the pitlane to the points despite making a series of passes at the first corner.

So not the most thrilling Spanish Grand Prix despite a change in the final sector in removing the chicane. Max Verstappen was way too fast in the race and won with a commanding lead over his rivals.

Spanish Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27:57.940
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +24.090s
3 George Russell Mercedes +32.389s
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull +35.812s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +45.698s
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +63.320s
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +64.127s
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine +69.242s
9 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +71.878s
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +73.530s
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +74.419s
12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +75.416s
13 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1 lap
14 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +1 lap
15 Nico Hulkenberg Haas V +1 lap
16 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
17 Lando Norris McLaren +1 lap
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
19 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
20 Logan Sargeant Williams +1 lap

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen achieved pole position in a weather-effected Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.

Spots of rain falling ahead of Q1 led to that segment featuring many offs and a red flag, with Fernando Alonso picking up damage in an incident that meant he was not a pole threat.

In the other Red Bull, Sergio Perez was knocked out in Q2 after he too went off the circuit in what were tricky conditions throughout the session.

In a fully dry Q3, Verstappen was the remaining runner to take new softs for the first runs and set a provisional pole time of one minute, 12.272 seconds.

This ended up being the pole time as the defending champion’s rivals – running ahead on the road – could not threaten even with new tyres.

Home hero Carlos Sainz shot onto the front row with a final lap that featured personal bests in all three sectors, edging out his former team-mate Lando Norris, who took third for McLaren.

Then came Pierre Gasly, who faces two post-qualifying investigations for appearing to impede Sainz and Verstappen in separate incidents in the busy Q1.

Lewis Hamilton had looked to be Verstappen’s main threat for pole after he sat second after his first Q3 run on used tyres, but the Mercedes driver paid the price for not improving enough in the final sector and he could only score fifth with his best lap of the final segment.

Lance Stroll finished sixth as the lead Aston Martin, ahead of Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg, who completed just one Q3 run – offset from the rest and set a few minutes before the final fliers.

Alonso led the pack for these as Aston used the most time they could to work on his damaged floor, but he never appeared to be in the fight for the top positions as a result and so only beat Oscar Piastri to P10.

Running at the rear of the pack for the final runs, Verstappen, with his pole already secured by the lack of improvement from the rest, was ordered to abandon his final flier in the pits.

Q2 was dry throughout but there were big casualties, as Perez paid the price for going off into the gravel at Turn 5 having touched the slippery painted kerbs on the outside line going into the downhill long left ahead of his final flier.

He had enough time to set another time, and was running just inside the top ten at the time, but others improving meant he was at serious risk of being knocked out.

Perez blazed to personal bests in all three sectors but could not beat Hulkenberg’s time and so was knocked out in P11 by 0.051 seconds.

That final lap had been completed in George Russell’s wake, the Mercedes driver finishing P12 but also in the wars, having moved over on team-mate Hamilton ahead of their final Q2 runs.

While Hamilton went through despite not setting a last time and having his right-side front wing endplate knocked off in the contact, Russell was knocked out as his last effort was compromised – the incident also involving Russell passing Sainz on his inside on a cool-down lap and Hamilton getting a big tow to close in on the other Mercedes.

The incident will be investigated after the session, with Russell also complaining throughout Q2 that his tyres were not working as expected – George saving a big snap out of Turn 11, where Nyck de Vries had spun twice in Q1.

Zhou Guanyu and the AlphaTauri pair were eliminated behind Russell – Zhou and de Vries setting personal bests on their last Q2 laps, with Yuki Tsunoda ending up 15th behind.

Q1 started with many cars waiting at the end of the pitlane to head out early in anticipation of rain impacting proceedings as clouds had built up to the south of the track as the time for qualifying action began.

Drops of rain were falling in the pitlane when the session started, but the action only lasted a few minutes as the greasy conditions caused several drivers to have off-track moments.

Alonso shot through the gravel at the exit of the final corner and picked up his floor damage, while Valtteri Bottas spun at Turn 12 having lost the rear of his Alfa in the proceeding Turn 11 right kink – a few minutes after de Vries had done likewise.

With Albon off in the gravel at Turn 5 and stones strewn across the track at multiple points, Q1 was red-flagged.

When it resumed after a nearly 10-minute delay, there was much focus on Ferrari, which had not sent its cars out to join the first pitlane queue and they were amongst a big gaggle lacking a time on the board by the time of the stoppage.

Leclerc and Sainz immediately registered times on their first fliers, but the former’s was much slower and he struggled for pace from there – complaining “there’s something wrong with my rears”.

He escaped the drop zone with a flier set just before the chequered flag dropped at the end of Q1, but with the rain no longer a problem and rubber being laid down ever more, Leclerc was shuffled back and dumped out in P19, with only Logan Sargeant behind.

Also eliminated in the late flurry of personal best times were Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Albon, who all slotted in ahead of Leclerc.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in the flying Red Bull. The defending champion is in the zone and with this major rivals suffering in this qualifying session and will start the race in not ideal conditions, Super Max is looking good for the race.

Spanish Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:12.272
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:12.734
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:12.792
4 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:12.816
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.818
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:12.994
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:13.083
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:13.229
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:13.507
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:13.682
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:13.334
12 George Russell Mercedes 1:13.447
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:13.521
14 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:14.083
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:14.477
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:13.977
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:14.042
18 Alex Albon Williams 1:14.063
19 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:14.079
20 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:14.699

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen survives a mid-race rain shower to take victory at the most famous street race on the Formula 1 calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix.

The double world champion converted pole position successfully despite having to contend with the wet weather among the final third of the race, extending his stint on the medium tyres to cover off the looming threat of rain.

With a dry start to proceedings, the medium-shod Verstappen covered off any threat of a pass from Fernando Alonso on the hards at the start, and immediately began to cement his lead early on with a strong opening salvo of laps to build a buffer.

Alonso was unable to match his fellow two-time champion’s laptimes in the first phase of the race, as worries over a puncture suggested that the Aston Martin was not handling correctly – although his team informed him that all was well when checking tyre pressures.

The lead reached 11.8 seconds by lap 25, although this had shrunk slightly by the 30th lap, with the gap 10.6 seconds over Alonso. At this moment had begun to close in on traffic as he was angling to lap the backmarkers – including teammate Sergio Perez.

This allowed Alonso to cut into Verstappen’s gap in an attempt to barge his way through the rearguard action, despite Perez doing his best to make his fellow Red Bull driver’s life easier.

The gap shrunk to 5.6 seconds, but then began to grow once more as Alonso was now firmly ensconced in the tailback as Verstappen had largely cleared it.

Radio reports over the severity of rain began to intensify, and Red Bull elected to hold off pitting Verstappen to ensure he was well placed to take advantage of a well-timed pitstop.

As light showers grew into heavier rainfall, particularly in the middle sector, which prompted a number of backmarkers to bolt on the intermediate compound.

Alonso then pitted on the lap 54, but Aston Martin made a decision to use mediums onto the Aston Martin just as the rain continued to fall.

This prompted him to pit again on the following lap, along with Verstappen, to collect the intermediates – but the gap was well over 20 seconds at this point.

Despite Alonso’s best efforts to close the gap over the remaining 20 laps, getting it down to 17.8 seconds at one point as Verstappen could not switch on his intermediate Pirellis as swiftly, the Red Bull driver grew in strength and continued to build his advantage.

Alonso’s arrears continued to increase and he eventually had to concede, finishing almost 28 seconds behind at the chequered flag.

Esteban Ocon converted his third position start into a third Formula 1 podium, despite coming under heavy pressure from Carlos Sainz in the early stages.

Sainz and Ferrari had been attempting to goad Alpine into pitting Ocon early to gain track position, but the team did not bite. On the lap 52, Sainz had his best shot at passing Ocon as the rain had emerged, but went off at the Nouvelle Chicane and had to give way.

Ocon then came under attack from Lewis Hamilton during the rain-hit phase of the race as the Mercedes duo had undercut the Ferraris, but the Alpine driver held firm to keep hold of a podium place.

Hamilton finished fourth ahead of team-mate George Russell, who copped a five-second penalty for rejoining the circuit unsafely at Mirabeau; having slid off, he reversed and went into the path of a hapless Sergio Perez, who made contact with the Mercedes.

Nonetheless, Russell’s advantage over Charles Leclerc ensured he kept fifth, as the home hero overtook team-mate Sainz as they were scrabbling around on medium tyres prior to their pitstop – and a double-stack to swiftly bring the SF-23s onto intermediates hurt Sainz further.

This put the Ferrari driver behind Pierre Gasly, whom he could not pass despite lingering behind his gearbox.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri completed the points, the McLaren duo making carbon-copy Turn 1 passes on Yuki Tsunoda on consecutive laps as the AlphaTauri driver struggled with his brakes.

Verstappen opened his championship lead to 39 points over Perez following a miserable race, where he pitted five times having started last, and ultimately finished P16. Not a good day for last year’s winner.

So congratulation to Max Verstappen in winning and becoming the most successful Red Bull driver with 39 race victories, one more than Sebastian Vettel. An impressive achievement in Formula 1.

Monaco Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:48:51.980
2 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +27.921s
3 Esteban Ocon Alpine +36.990s
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +39.062s
5 George Russell Mercedes +56.284s
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +61.890s
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine +62.362s
8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +63.391s
9 Lando Norris McLaren +1 lap
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1 lap
11 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
12 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +1 lap
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
14 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +2 laps
16 Sergio Perez Red Bull +2 laps
17 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +2 laps
18 Logan Sargeant Williams +2 laps
Kevin Magnussen Haas DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNF

Max Verstappen achieved pole position for the Monaco Grand Prx in a thrilling battle between Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc.

The double world champion overcame a two-tenth disadvantage to Alonso in the final sector to make a last-gasp swoop for the fastest time, his resulting time of one minute, 11.365 seconds meant his first pole position in qualifying at the Monte Carlo street circuit.

Verstappen had set a banker with a one minute, 12.102 seconds at the start of the session, but the lap was immediately outclassed by Alonso, who grabbed a one minute, 11.706 seconds to raise the bar considerably – and felt that he’d “pushed like an animal” to take provisional pole.

The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were unable to beat Alonso’s time, but moved ahead of Verstappen in the order as the Red Bull driver was forced to abandon his initial riposte.

Verstappen had another crack on his initial set of tyres and fell slightly short of Alonso in the opening sectors, but nailed the Rascasse and Antony Noghes corners to move to the top with a one minute, 11.654 seconds.

Esteban Ocon made a surprise charge to the top with a one minute, 11.553 seconds as the second round of runs began, until Leclerc put his Ferrari above him with a one minute, 11.471 seconds.

Alonso then charged to provisional pole with a one minute, 11.449 seconds, sending his Aston Martin mechanics into raptures, but all eyes were on Verstappen as he was set to close out the session.

Verstappen was over a tenth shy in the opening sector and his arrears grew to over two tenths, but he found three tenths over Alonso to dampen Aston Martin’s spirits.

Leclerc’s lap was good enough to start on the second row, alongside Ocon after the Alpine driver’s surprisingly strong effort was enough for fourth.

Sainz joined Lewis Hamilton on the third row, as the Mercedes driver scraped through into Q3, as Gasly and Russell filled out the fourth row. Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris completed the top ten, the latter able to return to the circuit after tagging the wall at Tabac in Q2.

The McLaren driver damaged the right-hand side of his car, forcing him to abandon the lap that he was on. Nonetheless, his earlier lap was enough to keep him on the right side of the elimination zone.

Norris also appeared to be impeded by Leclerc, which hindered his progress beyond P10.

Hamilton was also on the brink of elimination having been stranded in the drop zone with time for one more lap, and despite reporting that his tyres weren’t ready, the seven-time champion’s improvisation was enough to book him a spot into the top ten at the expense of Oscar Piastri.

Nyck de Vries bagged P12 on the grid ahead of Alex Albon, while Lance Stroll was hamstrung by confusion over his attendance at the weighbridge. The Canadian missed his call to get the car weighed, requiring the Aston Martin mechanics to roll his car back for the FIA to take his cornerweights. Valtteri Bottas will start the race P15, having been in the top ten after the initial foray of Q2 runs.

Sergio Perez was the biggest scalp of Q1 after his clash with the wall at Sainte Devote, which brought out the red flag with 11 minutes left on the clock.

The Red Bull driver carried too much speed into the opening corner and, as a result, the rear end of his Red Bull RB19 stepped out. The momentum pushed him towards the exit wall, hitting the Tecpro barrier with his rear-left wheel and causing heavy damage to his rear suspension.

Amid rapid track evolution when the session resumed, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton were significantly at risk and languished in the drop zone as the Q1 session trickled towards its closing stages. Sainz had aborted laps, while Hamilton suffered a slip on his penultimate flying lap at the Nouvelle Chicane and rapidly had to regroup for one final push.

Under the pressure, both drivers delivered and managed to progress out of the bottom five, at the expense of the Haas duo as Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were dumped out at the opening stage.

Logan Sargeant leapfrogged the pair of Haas cars while Perez starts last following his crash, alongside Zhou Guanyu.

So an exciting qualifying session with the drivers pushing to the limits. The ending to Q3 was thrilling and yet the world champion produced the result to score his first Monaco Grand Prix pole. With Fernando Alonso alongside him, the race is going to be epic. Roll on the Monaco Grand Prix!

Monaco Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.365
2 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:11.449
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.471
4 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:11.553
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:11.630
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.725
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:11.933
8 George Russell Mercedes 1:11.964
9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:12.082
10 Lando Norris McLaren 1:12.254
11 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:12.395
12 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:12.428
13 Alexander Albon Williams 1:12.527
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:12.623
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:12.625
16 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:13.113
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:13.270
18 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:13.279
19 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:13.523
20 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:13.850

Max Verstappen overcame his P9 starting position to win a strategic battle between Red Bulls in Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix, overtaking Sergio Perez on lap 48.

The defending world champion won from ninth on the grid, after losing out on a shot to set a qualifying time on Saturday after making a mistake on his first run, and was denied a further chance by Charles Leclerc’s late-session crash.

He was equipped with the hard tyre compared to Perez, who began the race from pole position on the medium compound, and Checo made sure to stay ahead of fellow front-row starter Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen initially dropped down to P10 at the start as Valtteri Bottas – starting alongside him on the grid – got a better getaway and leapfrogged the Red Bull and the Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

But the two-time champion settled in, quickly dispatching the brace of cars ahead by the end of the second lap. Further quickfire passes on Leclerc and Kevin Magnussen, who were embroiled in a delectable scrap over sixth position, got Verstappen closer to the front of the field.

A series of fastest laps in the early stages then continued to bring Verstappen back into play, and he got a tow from George Russell with DRS to dive past at Turn 17 on the eighth lap of the race as the Mercedes driver complained of vibrations under braking.

Pierre Gasly was next up on the following lap and proved easy pickings at the popular Turn 17 hairpin, moving Verstappen into the top four by the end of lap 10.

It took a comparative age for him to get onto the back of Carlos Sainz, but Verstappen cleared the Ferrari on lap 14 as Sainz had DRS from Alonso ahead to offer a token defence.

Alonso was also dispatched on the next lap with Perez now 3.6 seconds ahead in the lead, but the Red Bull driver reported that the front right tyre was beginning to give up as the mediums began to chafe in the hot Miami conditions.

Verstappen wound the gap down to 2.2 seconds before Perez came in to trade his aged mediums for a set of hard tyres on lap 20, handing the number 1 car the lead, and it became a case of both cars managing their hard tyres.

Perez had the harder job of attempting to close down an 18-second disadvantage to Verstappen, who simply had to maintain the gap prior to his pitstop for medium tyres later in the race.

By lap 32, Perez had the gap down to 14.8 seconds, but Verstappen then began to pick up the pace and managed to ensure the gap could grow once again over the next 13 laps.

Verstappen then eventually called in for medium tyres 12 laps from the end, having extended the gap to 18.3 seconds, but briefly ceded the lead to his team-mate and emerged 1.6 seconds behind once the pitstop was complete.

The pass from Verstappen seemed inevitable, although Perez offered his defence into Turn 17 on lap 47 of the circuit to keep his team-mate behind. Nonetheless, Verstappen stayed close and blasted past into Turn 1 on the next lap to seal the victory, logging the fastest lap on the penultimate lap.

Perez crossed the line 5.3 seconds behind, while Alonso completed the podium 20.9 seconds behind, feeling he had a ‘lonely race’ to third.

Russell worked his way through a number of drivers on the opposite strategy and passed both Ferraris to grab fourth, Sainz behind him in fifth having clung onto Alonso earlier on in the race.

Lewis Hamilton put a late move on Leclerc on lap 55 to rescue sixth from a P13 start, making the opposite strategy work by starting on hards despite getting caught behind Nico Hulkenberg through the first half of the race.

Leclerc meanwhile spent much of the race behind Magnussen and converted seventh on the grid to the same position by the end, ahead of the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Ocon.

Magnussen completed the top ten, 1.3 seconds clear of a rapidly closing Yuki Tsunoda by the end of the race.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the race despite starting in the mid-pack. Whatever the starting position, the Red Bull will fly through and win the race. That RB19 car is so fast and thanks to the strategy, the world champion will rise to the top.

Miami Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27:38.241
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull +5.384s
3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +26.305s
4 George Russell Mercedes +33.229s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +42.511s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +51.249s
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +52.988s
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine +55.670s
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine +58.123s
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas +62.945s
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +64.309s
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +64.754s
13 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +71.637s
14 Alex Albon Williams +72.861s
15 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +74.950s
16 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +78.440s
17 Lando Norris McLaren +87.717s
18 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +88.949s
19 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1 lap
20 Logan Sargeant Williams +1 lap

Sergio Perez claimed pole position at the Miami Grand Prix over Fernando Alonso, as Charles Leclerc brought out a red flag and prevented anyone from improving.

The Red Bull driver logged a time of one minute, 26.841 seconds thanks to the first flying runs in Q3 to take the early advantage on the timing board, as his teammate Max Verstappen went wide through Turn 5 and aborted his initial run – retreating to the pitlane.

Leclerc, meanwhile, tapped the wall on the exit of Turn 16 and then suffered a lock-up at the following corner, which proved only enough for seventh after the initial set of runs.

The two thus had work to do in order to move themselves up the order, and began their final runs to try and overturn Perez’s bid for a second pole position of the season.

While Leclerc began his lap in aggressive fashion, he overcooked it on the exit of Turn 6 and lost the rear to spin into the wall. This immediately brought out a set of double-waved yellows in the opening sector, but the session was red-flagged with one minute and 36 seconds left on the clock and Q3 was not restarted.

This confirmed Perez’s pole and denied Verstappen, who had topped both Q1 and Q2, a chance to bite back for pole, much to the defending champion’s frustration.

Alonso claimed his first front-row start of the season alongside Perez, thanks to his own strong performance after the opening set of runs – and hailed the Aston Martin’s balance as “perfect” following the session.

The two-time champion starts ahead of countryman Carlos Sainz on Sunday’s grid, as the Ferrari driver managed to produce a steady lap despite the opening set of runs. Kevin Magnussen joins him on the second row of the grid, the Haas driver nailing his first attempt as the team continued to look impressive throughout qualifying.

Magnussen, however, is under investigation for impeding Lewis Hamilton in Q1, when the Mercedes driver brushed the wall when avoiding the Haas.

Pierre Gasly took fifth ahead of George Russell, who broke through into Q3 by the skin of his teeth, while Leclerc was seventh fastest prior to his crash.

Esteban Ocon ensured two Alpines made the top ten, with Verstappen and Bottas failing to set representative times in the final part of qualifying.

Hamilton was the big-ticket elimination from Q2, only managing to secure P13 in the session as the Mercedes drivers spent most of the second part of qualifying in the drop zone.

Russell managed to progress into the top ten, but Hamilton was unable to extract the same degree of pace from the W14 and missed out on Q3 by two tenths, the seven-time champion feeling that the team went too late in search of progression to the final part of qualifying.

Alex Albon was dumped out of qualifying by Russell, who was just half a tenth ahead once the session came to a close, to deny Williams another shot at a Q3 berth.

Albon starts P11, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who was also unable to progress having sat in the top ten through most of the session. Hamilton starts Sunday’s race ahead of Zhou Guanyu, who could not join Alfa Romeo team-mate Valtteri Bottas in Q3, and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries.

Track conditions in Q1 rapidly improved in the dying stages of the session, creating a mad dash to the finish line as the margins were particularly tight among the midfield runners.

The McLaren and Mercedes duos were mired in the bottom five with a minute and a half to go, with both squads expecting to progress.

Both Mercedes drivers managed to grab competitive laptimes to progress, but Oscar Piastri could not break past the time and stamped his card for an early bath in the session.

Lando Norris meanwhile managed to get into P11, but improvement from the cars around him contrived to push him back down into the drop zone, ensuring he dropped out at the first stage.

Yuki Tsunoda qualified P17, while Lance Stroll also failed to coax his Aston Martin out of the bottom five and collected P18 for Sunday’s race. Piastri and Logan Sargeant completed the final row.

So a mixed up grid for the Miami Grand Prix with the Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc out of position. Overtaking around this track will be tricky but it will be fascinating to see the progress in the race.

Miami Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:26.841
2 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:27.202
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:27.349
4 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:27.767
5 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:27.786
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:27.804
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27.861
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:27.935
9 Max Verstappen Red Bull No time
10 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo No time
11 Alexander Albon Williams 1:27.795
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:27.903
13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.975
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:28.091
15 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:28.395
16 Lando Norris McLaren 1:28.394
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:28.429
18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:28.476
19 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:28.484
20 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:28.577

Sergio Perez wins another street race following a strong drive at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, assuming the lead from Formula 1 team-mate Max Verstappen after the safety car pitstops.

The Red Bull driver took advantage of a pitstop under the safety car to emerge in the lead after Verstappen had led the early phases of the race from polesitter Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc led away at the start line from Verstappen and, without DRS being made available in the opening series of laps, was able to hold a scant lead over the two-time champion.

But at the end of the third lap, Verstappen breezed past the Ferrari driver thanks to the great speed advantage of his Red Bull with DRS active, and led into the first corner of the fourth lap.

Leclerc quickly fell out of range and was soon easy pickings for Perez, who then immediately began to chase after Verstappen in his efforts to secure a second career victory at the Baku circuit.

Perez had homed to within DRS range of Verstappen, but the race was interrupted to pause the sprint race winner’s progress when Nyck de Vries crunched his front-left wheel against the inside wall at Turn 6, and stopped on track.

Verstappen pitted in response, but the emergence of a lap 11 safety car as the marshals tried to clear de Vries’ stranded AlphaTauri ensured that his side of the garage had somewhat mistimed the call – the safety car emerging when Verstappen was exiting the pitlane.

This gave Perez and Leclerc the chance to take cheaper pitstops under the safety car, allowing them to emerge from the pitlane in front of Verstappen once they’d collected their fresh hard tyres.

Although Leclerc tried to take a look at Perez on the restart, sticking with the leader, he could not keep Verstappen from blasting past at Turn 3 to assume second place.

But Perez had broken clear of DRS range, crucially ensuring that Verstappen could not employ the powerful rear wing against his own team-mate.

Perez and Verstappen then began to trade blows, and a tug of war over the fastest lap ensued – but the gap began to slowly open in Perez’s favour, particularly when Verstappen started to complain of a lack of balance between his differential and engine braking.

By the end of lap 36, Perez was clocking in with laps in the one minute, 44 seconds, with Verstappen still mired in the one minute, 45 seconds to help the driver’s lead grow to 2.5 seconds – which broke the three-second mark two laps later as Perez continued his impressive pace.

Continuing to set the pace, Perez got the gap up to 3.6 seconds but lost 0.6 seconds to Verstappen in trying to lap the twice-stopped Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, forcing him to bolster his defences in the following lap with another series of quick laps.

The difference between the two was at its zenith at 3.7 seconds, which Perez felt was enough to secure the victory – and began to back off, crossing the line with 2.1 seconds for his second win of 2023.

Verstappen went in search of the fastest lap point, although the reigning champion duly delivered the quickest lap, Fernando Alonso swiped the point away provisionally until Verstappen set a one minute, 44.474 seconds.

But Alonso, undeterred, went two tenths quicker than his fellow two-time champion to add to his points tally while trying to hunt down Leclerc.

Alonso was 0.8 seconds off Leclerc by the end, missing out on a fourth consecutive third place, as the Monegasque managed to shake off the Ferrari’s greater tyre degradation to ensure he could convert pole into a podium.

Alonso had earlier made up ground at the restart with an audacious move down the inside of Carlos Sainz at Turn 4, and Sainz finished 23.4 seconds behind his countryman after multiple discussions over strategy were aired on the television feed.

Lewis Hamilton dispatched Lance Stroll to take sixth, while George Russell – after a good start to the race – fell behind his team-mate and the Aston Martin driver at the restart and struggled to keep tabs with the pair ahead.

The Briton instead elected to call in and bolt on the soft tyres, swiping the fastest lap point away from Alonso.

Lando Norris had spent most of the race sat behind Nico Hulkenberg, who did a long stint on the hard tyre, but eventually broke past the Haas driver to move up into the points – which became ninth when the similarly late-stopping Esteban Ocon called in on the penultimate lap.

This elevated Yuki Tsunoda into the points to ensure AlphaTauri could double his season’s points tally – 2.6 seconds clear of Oscar Piastri.

It wasn’t the most thrilling race at Baku but this was a commanding victory for Sergio Perez. He won the sprint race the previous day and now, Checo is a winner again in the main Grand Prix. Solid result for the driver and Red Bull Racing with this 1-2 finish.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix, race results:
1 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:32:42.436
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +2.137s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +21.217
4 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +22.024s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +45.491s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +46.145s
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +51.617s
8 George Russell Mercedes +74.240s
9 Lando Norris McLaren +80.376s
10 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +83.862s
11 Oscar Piastri McLaren +86.501s
12 Alex Albon Williams +88.623s
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas +89.729s
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine +91.332s
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine +97.794s
16 Logan Sargeant Williams +100.943s
17 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
18 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo DNF
Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri DNF

Sergio Perez overtook Charles Leclerc to take victory in Formula 1’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint race, taking the chequered flag for Red Bull Racing with a 4.4 seconds advantage.

Starting second, Perez slotted in behind Leclerc at the start and stuck with him through the opening lap, before the race was paused for a safety car period produced after Yuki Tsunoda hit the wall at Turn 14 on the opening lap.

The AlphaTauri driver tore the right-rear tyre off the rim, appearing to have had contact with team-mate Nyck de Vries to damage his front wing.

A virtual safety car emerged for the debris, as Tsunoda crawled back to the pitlane. Although AlphaTauri put a new set of tyres on to try and salvage something from the sprint, the car was noticeably crabbing on the straights and the team was investigated for releasing the car in an unsafe condition.

This evolved into a full-blown safety car by the third lap, with proceedings restarting on the sixth lap once the debris was cleared from the track.

Leclerc let fly on the restart to stay ahead of Perez, leading the next two laps with Checo keeping tabs on him.

But once DRS was available, Perez became a greater force in Leclerc’s mirrors and, at the end of lap seven, reeled the Ferrari in on the 2.2-kilometre main straight and swept past to pick up the lead of the 17-lap race.

The Ferrari driver stuck with him and had a brief look down the inside into Turn 3, but ultimately was not presented with an opportunity to return the favour.

With greater straightline speed, Perez could slowly start to edge away from Leclerc and eventually broke free of DRS range as Leclerc was more concerned with trying to manage his tyres to keep ahead of Max Verstappen.

The Ferrari driver briefly closed in once again and got back within DRS range of Perez, but the Red Bull driver turned up the wick and broke free of Leclerc at almost a second a lap’s advantage, growing to 4.4 seconds by the flag.

Leclerc managed to hang on in second from a late Verstappen charge, as the reigning champion was hampered by damage in a first-lap skirmish with George Russell.

The Mercedes driver had a better getaway and was side-by-side with Verstappen through the opening array of corners, eventually breaking past at Turn 3 – with Verstappen complaining that Russell had touched him through the first lap. His Red Bull sustained a small gash in its left sidepod, as he momentarily dropped to fourth.

But after the restart following the safety car, Verstappen caught a tremendous run on Russell and seared past to reclaim third place.

However, Verstappen was unable to make inroads into Leclerc and dropped outside of DRS activation for most of the sprint, only getting to within a second in the final couple of laps.

Russell claimed fourth ahead of Carlos Sainz, who had battled earlier on with Lewis Hamilton, and broke past the Briton after falling behind before the restart.

Fernando Alonso followed through in the same move to get ahead of Hamilton, as Lance Stroll claimed the final point after winning out in a battle with Alex Albon.

Stroll made a move past the Williams at Turn 1 from a long way behind, and held off Albon into Turn 3.

Oscar Piastri completed the top ten after passing team-mate Lando Norris, who struggled for pace and ultimately pitted to turn his race into a glorified test session.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix, sprint race:
1 Sergio Perez Red Bull 33:17.667
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +4.463s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull +5.065s
4 George Russell Mercedes +8.532s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +10.388s
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +11.613s
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +16.503s
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +18.417s
9 Alexander Albon Williams +21.757s
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren +22.851s
11 Kevin Magnussen Haas +27.990s
12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +34.602s
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +36.918s
14 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +41.626s
15 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +48.587s
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +49.917s
17 Lando Norris McLaren +51.104s
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine +60.621s
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri DNF
Logan Sargeant Williams DNF

Charles Leclerc claimed the Formula 1 sprint pole position at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, overcoming a late drama with the wall to beat Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen.

A time of one minute, 41.697 seconds from Leclerc amid the first runs in the eight-minute SQ3 session proved unassailable, and a second set of laps from both Perez and Verstappen could not topple the Ferrari’s driver searing pace around the Baku circuit.

The Red Bull duo was especially keen to be first out in the final part of qualifying, sitting at the pitlane exit for a few minutes between sessions, and immediately began proceedings with the initial headline efforts.

Perez posted a one minute, 41.876 seconds to go top, and Verstappen was unable to beat his team-mate’s effort having complained that he “lost all the rear in the middle sector”.

Leclerc reprised his form from Friday and fired his Ferrari across the line with a one minute, 41.697 seconds to sit on top of the order, once again throwing down the gauntlet to the Red Bull duo.

Although Perez began to hit back, setting the best middle sector time of the session and threatening to usurp Leclerc, he was unable to make the difference in the final sector and crossed the line 0.15 seconds shy of Leclerc’s benchmark.

Attempting to better his own time, Leclerc then gave the Ferrari garage a scare by putting his Ferrari into the barrier at Turn 5, but only damaged his front wing and was able to back it out of the wall – compromising team-mate Carlos Sainz’s lap in the process.

Verstappen improved his time but was unable to claim any ground on Leclerc and Perez, and will thus start the sprint race from third on the grid.

With Sainz unable to make any gains, George Russell moved past the Spanish driver to claim fourth on the grid for the shortened Saturday race. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton starts from sixth, alongside Sainz on the third row.

Having carried his Williams all the way to SQ3, Alex Albon will start the sprint from seventh ahead of Fernando Alonso, who was suffering amid continued DRS issues at Aston Martin. Lance Stroll was ninth quickest, while Lando Norris could not run in SQ3 having no sets of soft tyres left.

The rules dictate that a fresh set of softs must be used, but McLaren decided to sacrifice a potential SQ3 outing on Friday and employed that set during his Q3 lap, giving him seventh on the grid for Sunday’s race.

Oscar Piastri was unable to progress to the final part of qualifying, despite getting into the top 10 late on in SQ2 with a lap 0.03 seconds shy of team-mate Norris.

But Stroll received a tow from Alonso in a showing of great teamwork among the Aston Martins, slingshotting the Canadian into the top ten at Piastri’s expense.

Nico Hulkenberg overcame a near-miss with the wall at Turn 7, where he sustained a lock-up at the front, to shuffle up to P12 as Haas did not have the pace to provide a concerted challenge for SQ3.

Esteban Ocon could only go P13 in a difficult session for the Alpine squad, albeit three tenths clear of Kevin Magnussen.

With 30 seconds left on the clock of SQ1, Logan Sargeant hit the wall at Turn 15 to effectively freeze the order for the opening 12 minutes of running, breaking the right rear corner of his Williams in the process.

Sargeant had been P11, but could take no further part in the session given the extent of the damage – the American citing that the “Ferraris were in the middle of the road” on the exit of the Old City section.

This denied the Alfa Romeos of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas a chance to break out of the bottom five. But the timing of the red flag was more cruel for Yuki Tsunoda, who had qualified in the top ten for Sunday’s Grand Prix, and was on course to better his lap before the session was stopped as he was on the final straight.

Pierre Gasly entered the pits after his initial runs, and thus could do no better than 19th on the grid – and was only spared from the bottom of the pile by Nyck de Vries. The Dutchman endured a troubled run, once more going deep at Turn 3 – but this time, avoided the wall and managed to reverse out.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix, sprint qualifying:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:41.697
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:41.844
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:41.987
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:42.252
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:42.287
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:42.502
7 Alex Albon Williams 1:42.846
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:43.010
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:43.064
10 Lando Norris McLaren No time
11 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:43.427
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:43.806
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:44.088
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1;44.332
15 Logan Sargeant Williams No time
16 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:45.177
17 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1;45.352
18 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:45.436
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1;46.951
20 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:48.180